Night of Firsts; RBNY 2 – RSL 0

By: Dave Martinez | April 18th, 2009

With a man down for 25 minutes of the match, the Red Bulls were able to confidently close out the game, and take home their first win of the season. But the night of firsts didn’t end with a win; it took the Red Bulls first goal of the season, scored by Mac Kandji, which was his first goal of the season, and then he fed Angel for his first goal of the season, which ultimately lead to the Bulls first win of the season. Hell, even Alfredo Pacheco debuted (and looked excellent!).

Like I said; night of firsts!

Tonight, the seeds of a dangerous offensive tandem were sown, as Big Mac Kandji and Angel played extremely well off each other, creating vital space, and causing the defense to split on every dangerous attack. Meanwhile, Kevin Goldthwaite was having a career game, leading the Bulls defensive unit to a shut out. And Jon Conway didn’t even get challenged till the final 15 minutes. Talk about an easy debut!

All in all, a great win on a beautiful April night.

The Bulls dominance of Real Salt lake continues.

MAN OF THE MATCH

MAC KANDJI. Mac was every bit the truck everyone expected him to be. He single handedly broke the Bulls scoreless streak, and helped add on to the barrage with a feed to Angel for the deuce. Mac’s play created extra space for Angel to maneuver, as happened with his goal, where Mac drew three defenders to spring Angel. A wonderful performance for the teams first win of the season.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME

The blossoming of the Mac Kandji/Angel pairing was on display tonight. The second goal, with Kandji splitting the defense, drawing three men and springing an open Angel, is a sight the Bulls have not seen in quite some time. It sealed RSL’s fate.

WHAT THE &#^@ MOMENT OF THE GAME

Did you see Kevin Goldthwaite do a ballerina split to save a shot from becoming a goal?! Yup, so did I. Much credit to Goldthwaite is due, as he has been up to the task as the center back anchor for the Bulls.

HONORABLE MENTION: Jeremy Halls bogus red card.

THE GOAT

David Horst. The RSL centerback was completely abused all game, ultimately being taken out in the 65th minute for debuting Argentine attacker Luis Miguel Escalada. Bad game Horst.

(AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

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Frank

Hey Dave,
After being at the game on Sst, and watching Red Bulls in 60 I think the Bulls need to change the formation. A 4-2-3-1 may fit this team better with BIG BAD mac holding up the ball at the one while a speady Richards and Hall shoot up hte wings and our captin sits back right behind Mac distributing and shooting at will. At the CDM spots we have Stam. and Sass. to slot in. . . we just look flat going foward and the DEFENSE needs to PUSH UP.

I think I yelled at HALL to PUSH UP SO MANY times at the game he turned around and SMILED!!! I hate when we sit back!
Starks in Tampa

great win for redbull, we needed thsi win bad! Lets hope we can string some together, one thing that worries me is Angel's health. And boy it is good to have conway in there over Cep.
Dave Martinez

Hey everyone! Excuse my morning absence!

The consensus is Khano had a bad game. Pacheco's debut went wonderfully. To counter Alex's point, his crossed down field were much more accurate than that, finding Richards or Rojas routinely. The Bulls havent had that switch the field threat this season, and with the little I saw, Pacheco presents that threat.

And Rojas played well. Perhaps a stronger partner on his left will enable him to play a bit more centrally.

Overall, a wonderful game. One that the Bulls can absolutely build on.
Wes

Khano Smith is still unwhelming .. not performing as well as touted. Pecheco was fantastic though. What a great debut!

I'd have to give man of the match to Goldthwaite though. Did a great job on defense, amazing bicycle kick save to keep the clean sheet. You expect Kandji to perform well, as should Angel (don't get me wrong - their performance was great). all and all, great booster for the team. C'MON YOU BULLS!
cb

sweet victory! the entire team played well - except for smith! he has to go: he lost the ball every time, absolute wanker, but enough about what we already know. the team looked solid in defense and strong up top. i was happy with the additions of pacheco and conway - both were improvements. goldthwaite worked his way off my launch pad, also. let's go red bulls!
Alex

I gotta say I was underwhelmed by Pacheco's debut. He was excellent defensively but seemed unable to do anything with the ball other than launch it up in the general direction of the forwards. I realize that complaining about the offensive efforts of a defender may seem greedy, but I'm not sold on Pacheco just yet.
RobStyles

Pico - I am with you 100% on Smith. Terrible. Did you hear Shep's comments about him early in the game?
Pico

Good game overall. Stammler still looks a little rusty, his touch was not there and lost a few balls. Richards is going to give me ulcers, he needs to pick up his head and see the field. Too one-dimensional and his finish is non-existent. I would like to see Mbuta in his place for a change.

I guess we need to wait another week for Hall to take his place in left midfield. Smith should be waived outright.

Rojas played much better, but lost a couple of balls in the defensive zone. He did hustle a lot when we were a man down.

Pacheco was good on the back, but I think he played too many long balls in Richards' direction. One positive effect of him in the lineup is that we started play from the back more often, not a big keeper kick. He just needs someone else to play with on that side. Again, Hall in for Smith. And get rid of Khano right away.

Mac plays like the number in his back. He made Kyle P look like a fool throughout the whole game.

Cheers
NCerritos

pacheco played a great game and he showed everyone what everyone was expecting. he died for every ball and he tried his best to make it trhough. he had a great game. well done pacheco.
Onoda

I don't know what happened tonight, but not only did we look like a team again, we looked downright dangerous. What a breath of fresh air. D'ya think it might have to do with Pacheco bringing moral to the team? I thought everyone(minus Smith) had a solid performance. Finally looking forward to the rest of the season.
Chris

Great game, finally. I still have reservation about the midfield, Rojas and Kano Smith still seem to be underperforming. Lets just hope this keeps up and we can get some points back on thursday.

BTW did anyone else enjoy the substitute MSG commentator like I did? I felt like I was playing FIFA 09 lol. But on a serious note, if you closed your eyes and just listened, you would not have known you were watching a crappy MSG feed and a 90% empty giants stadium.
RobStyles

Great match! This is the team that we all had high expectations for and in their debut they showed that they can and will compete for the MLS Cup this year. Mac looked amazing, his touch on the ball has improved ten fold since last season. If he keeps this we will are going to see the second coming of Jozy Altidore complete with transfer to Europe. Angel finally broke the ice...let's just hope that that is all he broke (fingers crossed). Defense played very well. Hall's red card just made JCO's job easier for one more week now that he will not have to choose between him and Johnson on Thursday. What he plans on doing when both are back from suspension we can only imagine. Pacheco had a very nice debut.

Btw-we still have Celades to add to the mix. As I've been saying all along, our team has not been on the field this season until tonight. From here on out, so long as we can maintain our health, we will have the deepest team in the league.

Forza Red Bull!